The present invention relates to intervention planning for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) using 3D computed tomography (CT) data, and more particularly, to deriving parameters for a TAVI intervention based on patient-specific anatomy detected in 3D CT data.
Valvular heart disease (VHD) affects a large number of people and often requires costly diagnostic and interventional procedures and long-term management. Aortic valve stenosis is a type of VHD in which a narrowing of the aortic valve impedes the flow of blood from the left ventricle to the aorta. In most cases of aortic valve stenosis, aortic valve replacement (AVR) is the only effective treatment. Traditionally, AVR surgery has required a major open-chest procedure that carries significant risk to the patient. Similarly, other types of VHD have traditionally been treated with surgical valve repair or replacement, as well. However, recently, there have been important advances in concepts, tools, techniques, and patient selection for treatment of VHD using non-surgical minimally invasive procedures. Such minimally invasive procedures are beginning to be used as a substitute for traditional surgical techniques. Transcatheter valve intervention, such as Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), offers the potential to reduce procedural morbidity, mortality, and costs of surgical valve replacement or repair, while accelerating patient recovery.
TAVI can be utilized for aortic valve replacement in high-risk surgical patients. However, without direct access and view of the affected aortic valve, such interventions are guided by advanced real-time imaging equipment, such as C-arm fluoroscopic imaging. An orthogonal view of the aortic valve in the C-arm fluoroscopy images is typically used to allow the physician to determine the optimal deployment location of the artificial aortic valve. In current clinical practice, the angulation parameters of the C-arm imaging system are determined manually by the physician to achieve the desired view in the intra-operative C-arm fluoroscopy images.